Tagged: trauma

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. Lamentations 3:22 Compassion is directly connected to power. Our human power has limits. For some, compassion can morph into workaholism and exhaustion. Others, looking at the widespread trauma in the world today, feel powerless to help at all. Then compassion becomes despair. Despair becomes avoidance, even as the needs of the world grow greater. There is a compassion that never fails, and it is powered by limitless love. I don’t know about you, dear reader, but my compassion has limits because my love has limits. Does yours? I didn’t want my love to have limits. I once thought I could love endlessly. It took a mere six months among a… Read More

If you missed Part One in this series of Stories of the Redeemed, click here. Last week you heard Cecilia Sakatira’s story of how the Master Weaver gave her a new vision and purpose out of a time of darkness and suffering. She is the founder and director of Creative Hands, a ministry that empowers women on the refugee highway in Greece to find gainful employment and learn about the Messiah. This week, read with me as she shares the story of one woman at Creative Hands whose unraveled life is being woven into something new and wonderful.       For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.… Read More

Then Job answered and said, “I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all.” Job 16:1-2 In your desire to comfort the broken-hearted, beware of becoming a Scripture basher. I sat rigid on the couch as my friend scolded me. “You’ve got to have faith. After all, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. God rewards the faithful. Without faith, we can’t please God.” Rushing to the bathroom, I lost my breakfast.  Pregnancy hormones still raged through my body, betraying me, as if they did not yet realize I no longer carried a little life inside. My still-swollen stomach now drooped in grief. I’d thought we were past the danger zone. Almost four months.  Now I… Read More

Hi friends,  I just had the honor of completing a training experience with the Trauma Healing Institute under the gentle and joyful teaching of Diana Spann, Steve Moses, and Susan Ryan. My goal was to gain training and certification to lead trauma healing groups. What I encountered was the healing of my own heart wounds, help processing trauma and burnout in my life, and the incredible gift of a new community of comrades who now will help me help others. In the coming weeks, I will be processing what I learned through my writing. I pray it helps you heal, too. That is the heart of the Wounded Healer for all of us.       Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a… Read More

disarm: take a weapon or weapons away from (a person, force, or country); remove the fuse from (a bomb), making it safe; deprive of the power to injure or hurt. (New Oxford American Dictionary) I am heavily armed at all times. My weapons are both visible and concealed, and I am careful to wear them at all times. Over time I have collected quite an arsenal. Performance is my nuclear weapon, carefully engineered to obliterate rejection and disapproval across vast distances. Coming in a close second in power is a highly dependable weapon called Control. Its accuracy can be counted on and it rarely misses its mark, unless the target moves by forces beyond my control. The next weapon might surprise you. Called Good, it… Read More